Gulf shipyards had to change to survive the oil bust

The Gulf’s shipyards did not simply pick up where they had left off when offshore demand returned after the 1980s downturn. A July 2014 history published by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management describes an industry that survived through different customers, different work and, eventually, different kinds of boats.

Historians Tyler Priest and John Lajaunie wrote that surviving Gulf Coast firms diversified into repairs and refurbishment, pleasure boats, government contracts and international construction. In Morgan City, they cited Conrad Shipyard’s expansion of repair work and pursuit of construction in other industries, including drydocks used by ship repairers.

The losses before that recovery were substantial. The 2014 report records that McDermott reduced its workforce and closed its New Iberia shipyard during the 1980s. Across the Gulf, yards closed, changed hands or shrank. A later increase in offshore activity therefore arrived in an industry that had already shed people and facilities.

Deepwater development in the 1990s created new demands, according to Priest and Lajaunie. Boats had to reach installations farther offshore, carry heavier loads and handle more demanding conditions. Heavier anchor lines and additional supplies required more power and deck capacity. The opportunity was to build equipment suited to that work, rather than merely restart an earlier production line.

The historians also describe a separate market in removing older platforms from shallower water. New construction, repairs and removal work could all support marine businesses, but they were different services with different technical requirements.

Skilled labor became a constraint as orders returned. The 2014 study reports that earlier downsizing had pushed experienced workers out of the industry and years of weak hiring had interrupted the development of the next workforce. Gulf shipyards sought welders and shipfitters while training efforts struggled to keep pace with production schedules.

This was a Gulf Coast recovery, with Morgan City and New Iberia among the places in the report; it was not a measured rebound for every parish or every former worker. The history’s useful distinction is between renewed demand and restored capacity. Orders could return before the workers, yards and skills needed to fill them were ready.